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YOUNGSTOWN -- Shaiquon Sharpe and his cousin, Taquashon Ray, both 25, were sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 107 years Friday in the Nov. 7, 2018, murders of Edward Morris, 21; Valarcia Blair, 19; and her 3-month-old son, Tariq.
They each received sentences of 30 years to life on each of the three aggravated murders, plus additional time for specifications that they used a gun in their crimes. The three sentences were ordered to be served one after the other.
Each man would be eligible for his first parole hearing around age 131, though the oldest person in the world is 122.
Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court could have chosen life in prison without eligibility for parole, or could have imposed life sentences with parole eligibility after 20, 25 or 30 years in prison.
Police found Morris dead and found Blair and Tariq with fatal wounds in a car parked in the devil strip in the 700 block of Pasadena Avenue on the South Side. A second vehicle that Ray later admitted to being inside was still parked in front of the Morris vehicle when police arrived.
Prosecutors described it as the "getaway car that wouldn't start."
SENTENCING
Blair and Tariq were taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, but both died. Tariq was in a car seat in the back of the car with a blanket over it.
Defense attorney Lou DeFabio, who represents Ray, asked the judge to impose the minimum sentence of 23 years to life on Ray, saying, "We all know he is not going to be released (on parole) the first time" he is eligible.
But Rob Andrews, assistant county prosecutor, said he does not think there is a worse type of crime than this triple murder, saying "a 3-month-old child's life was ended because of a senseless act." He said the facts indicate that Sharpe and Ray intended to kill Morris.
"Unfortunately, Valarcia Blair and Tariq Morris were just collateral damage," Andrews said.
Andrews asked that both men be sentenced to life in prison without parole and additional time because of guns being used in each of the aggravated murders.
Andrews and assistant Prosecutor Aaron Meikle admitted right after the sentencing that they were not sure what the total prison sentence was in the case. The judge later clarified the life with parole eligibility after 107 years.
Sharpe and Ray were convicted Feb. 10 on all counts -- four counts of aggravated murder, three counts of murder and single counts of tampering with evidence, obstructing justice and improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation or school safety zone.
GRANDMOTHER
Before Sweeney announced the sentence, Lula Green stood before her and expressed the sadness of losing her granddaughter, Blair, and her great-grandson, Tariq.
She said the two deaths leave Blair's two other children without their mother.
"They will never get to see their baby brother again, never get to see him take his first steps or to hear him speak his first word," she said. Another relative is raising the two other children.
"They will never get to see their mom anymore. They need counseling now. They have nightmares. They dream about their mom.
"We are just at a loss for this senseless act that took them from us," she said.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence pointing to DNA on bullet shell casings coming from Sharpe. They also presented testimony from a Youngstown police detective regarding Facebook messages that were retrieved from cellphone accounts that could be interpreted as being messages between Ray and another man regarding a "bounty" on Morris' life.
'THERE WAS A HIT'
Other messages and a jail phone call involving Sharpe and his mother also could be interpreted as evidence that Ray and Sharpe carried out the killing for money.
One Facebook message from Ray three days before the killings asks another man if he "still wanted Ed or naw" and later said, "I can get it done ASAP."
About 10 minutes after the shooting, a message from Ray's phone was sent to the same person saying, "check and mate" and "job done," a detective testified while records of the phone calls were displayed on a TV monitor.
The trial lasted nearly three weeks. It was slowed by snow and ice storms that shut down the courthouse, the illness of an assistant prosecutor and other issues.
When reporters asked Meikle after the sentencing whether someone could still be charged with offering money to have Morris killed, he said: "There is always a possibility," adding "The investigation is still open. "It was clear there were probably other people involved; there was a hit."
erunyan@vindy.com